Mandarin Excellence Programme

Mandarin Chinese opens up a world of opportunity – as the most spoken language in the world, it can connect speakers with an exciting and dynamic culture as well as boost career opportunities. Mandarin has been identified as one of the most important languages for the UK’s future prosperity, so now marks the perfect time to help students in your school be on track for fluency.

The Mandarin Excellence programme is a unique yet intensive language programme which will see at least 5,000 pupils on track to achieving this goal by 2020.

Your school can be at the forefront of delivering this programme, with funding available for state-funded secondary schools across England. Support will be provided throughout by the UCL Institute of Education and the British Council. You’ll also get the opportunity to work with other schools, sharing both ideas and resources.

What does the programme involve?

All students on the Mandarin Excellence Programme will need to receive four hours of teacher-taught classroom lessons each week. This will contribute towards a programme of eight hours of study per week, which could consist of a combination of teacher taught classroom lessons, after-school teaching, self-study and intensive study courses (in China and the UK).

It is expected that your school will continue to support the growth of Mandarin in the curriculum beyond the funded project lifespan and pupils will be expected to be on track to complete their GCSE/A Level (or equivalent), and eventually HSK level 4 and 5.